England finally win a game

Eighty nine days have elapsed. Players have returned home to recover from a range of ailments, one has opted to walk away from cricket altogether.

Even a handful of accompanying cricket journalists are being forced by immigration authorities to leave the country tonight because they risked overstaying their visas.

But England has at last recorded an international victory over Australia as part of their 2013-14 Ashes tour.

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The historic moment arrived at 7.13pm local time in Perth, where Alastair Cook’s wretched tour began in late October and at the same ground where his team surrendered the Ashes as part of their eventual nil-five Test series humiliation.

While historical examination of the match scorecard will reveal Australia fielded a below strength team as it prepares for its upcoming three-Test series against South Africa, it won’t portray the huge sense of relief that washed over Cook when the 57-run win was achieved in the 48^th over.

England allrounder Ben Stokes, who was the shining light of the Ashes series during which he made his Test debut, was the undisputed player of the match having scored 70 and claiming 4-39.

Although Stokes could have ended the game more than an over before the final play when he dropped a skied catch off Nathan Coulter-Nile.

Five balls later, another fly ball landed safely at the feet of Gary Ballance who seemed more intent on smothering the bounce as he ran in from fine leg.

Even when victory arrived on the velvet cushion of a miscued pull shot, England were unable – almost unwilling – to grab hold of it.

Eventually, wicketkeeper Jos Buttler – who starred with the bat and claimed five catches – hung on to a third chance and the usual scenes of euphoria that accompany such an emphatic win were replaced by self-conscious smiles and a palpable sense of release.

As if England needed an extra helping of satisfaction after breaking their winless drought, they also unseated their arch-rivals from top spot on the International Cricket Council’s ODI rankings – a mantle the Australians held for a little over two days.

They can reclaim that title if they win the final match of the Carlton Mid ODI Series in Adelaide on Sunday, and New Zealand manages to win at least one of its three remaining one-dayers against India across the Tasman.

Even though opener Aaron Finch clubbed 108 from 111 balls, the rest of Australia’s recast top order – minus skipper Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, David Warner and Brad Haddin who were all being rested – failed to lend support.

And when James Faulkner, the hero of Australia’s come-from-nowhere win in the second game of the Carlton Mid Series in Brisbane a week earlier, fell for just two the game appeared up.

At one stage Finch, who holds the record for the highest individual score in a Twenty20 international (156), looked likely to become the first Australian – and the first non-Indian – male to reach 200 in an ODI.

He cruised to his century – his second of the Carlton Mid ODI Series following his 121 in game one at the MCG – with the best part of 20 overs remaining in Australia’s run chase.

The timing and brute strength he exhibited in landing consecutive sixes from off-spinner James Tredwell over the wide mid-on fence – with the first of those blows landing well back on the roof above the players’ dressing room – suggested the WACA could not contain him once he decided to launch.

But rather than explode into T20 mode once he reached his milestone, Finch found runs and the strike tough to get hold of.

His next 14 balls yielded just 11 runs and it was his search for a boundary, with an attempted upper cut from Tim Bresnan as the required run rate blew out beyond 8.5 an over, that cost him his wicket thanks to a fine running catch by Stuart Broad at third man.

At that point, Australia was reliant on its all-rounders and tailenders to complete the highest successful run chase at the WACA, a record set by Pakistan when they reached 274 with nine wickets down and a ball to spare 27 years ago.

Until today, England’s only successes had been forged against cobbled-together representative teams best known for the entities under whose aegis they played – a Cricket Australia Invitational XI in Sydney; a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra.

And while a case could be mounted that the team Australia fielded in Perth could be reasonably re-named the National Selection Panel XI, given the decision to rest four star players and rely instead on aspiring young batsman and a chorus of all-rounders, it was a victory as meritorious as it was overdue.

England’s 50-over total of 8-316 was its highest at the WACA and the second-largest ODI total they’ve posted in Australia.

Although their excitement during the innings break was doubtless tempered by the knowledge that their best – the 6-333 they piled on at the SCG three years ago – was run down by the Australians with four balls to spare.

Certainly, today’s total – underpinned by Buttler’s incandescent 71 from 43 balls and a more sedate but no less significant 70 off 84 balls from Stokes – was a tier above England’s previous best in Perth which was the 272 they made in 1987.

Not coincidentally, that was the last time they defeated Australia in a 50-over international at the WACA.

The result means Australia equals but was unable to break the record for the most consecutive wins in any international form against cricket, with the streak that stretches back to the final ODI of last year’s series in England now finishing at nine.

It also ends a forgettable week for Bailey who lost his place in the Test squad for South Africa and now holds the dubious distinction as the skipper who lost to England.

“I’m sure it does,” Bailey said, when asked if the personnel changes had possible unbalanced the Australian team.

“Ideally you would want the same team playing every game but it’s not the case.”

He will doubtless be delighted to hand the captaincy reins back to Clarke for the final Carlton Mid Series match in Adelaide on Sunday, where the skipper will be without Mitchell Johnson, who will remain in Perth until his departure for South Africa next week.

Bailey, meanwhile, deposed from the Test team, will saddle up to lead Australia’s Twenty20 team in three internationals that will complete England’s no longer-winless tour in early February. 

Australia: George Bailey, Mitchell Johnson, Aaron Finch, Shaun, Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, Steve Smith, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson, James Faulkner, Dan Christian, Xavier Doherty (12th man).

England: Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Ben Stokes, Garry Balance, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Chris Jordan, James Tredwell, Joe Root (12th man).